JPH04358295A - Sheet handling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a device for preventing the damage of a dealing device even when sheets are ejected while overlapped in a device which deals with a sheet such as cash. CONSTITUTION: Cash carrying devices 74, 78, and 86 included in a money paying unit are driven by a motor, and a pair of first and second rolls 74 and 78 are included. Those rolls interpose a cash 18' partially ejected from a cash cassette 14 for the purpose of ejecting the cash 18' from the cassette 14 between them. The pair of first and second rolls 74 and 78 are suspended by first and second axes 76 and 80, and a first axis 76 is suspended so that one edge can move to a direction going away from the second axis 80. One edge of the first axis 76 is interlocked with a microswitch for protecting the carrying devices 74, 78, and 86 from damage when the input of the overlapped cash occurs, and when one edge goes away from the second axis 80 beyond scheduled amounts, the microswitch is operated, and the power of the motor is released.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet handling apparatus for picking up sheets one by one from a stack of sheets held in a container and transporting the sheets to a delivery station.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art The present invention can be applied to, for example, a bill payment unit used in an automatic teller machine (ATM). An automatic teller machine is provided with a banknote ejecting device that pulls out banknotes from one or more banknote cassettes mounted in a banknote payment unit. As is well known, in automatic teller machines, the user inserts the customer identification card into the machine and then enters certain data (e.g. code, amount of money to be paid, type of transaction, etc.) on the machine's keyboard. Use to enter. The machine then processes the transaction as a set procedure,
Update the customer's account data based on the transaction, pay the money withdrawn from one or more money cassettes, and return the card to the customer.

[0003] One form of a known automatic teller machine includes a bill ejecting mechanism. The mechanism includes a rotatable pick arm located adjacent to the money cassette. The pick arm pulls out a portion of the banknote at the end of the stack of banknotes in the cassette by applying suction to the banknote, and engages the pulled out portion with a transfer device provided for removing the banknote from the cassette. It is designed to take out banknotes. A typical cash dispensing process includes a process in which a transfer mechanism feeds a plurality of banknotes one by one to a banknote stacking device that stacks banknotes in bundles. The bundled banknotes are then sent to a dispensing station, called a cash retrieval slot, for pick-up by an automated teller machine user.

[0004] Abnormal operation of the bill ejecting mechanism often causes a so-called "swallowing phenomenon" in which a plurality of bills are erroneously removed from the cassette instead of a single bill during one cycle of the ejecting mechanism. Such anomalies occur, for example, when the cassette is not loaded correctly or when the bill ejection mechanism within the cassette becomes jammed. When a swallowing phenomenon occurs, the gears driving the bill transfer device are subjected to significant stress, causing one or more of the gears to fail. Even if only one gear fails due to the swallowing phenomenon, all other gears in the drive system are under such great stress that further use will result in even greater failure. Therefore, once a swallowing phenomenon occurs, it is necessary to replace the main gear in order to be able to use the removal mechanism reliably again.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a sheet handling device for removing sheets one by one from a stack of banknotes or the like and transporting the sheets to a delivery station. The device includes a device that protects the device from damage in the event of an ingestion event.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a sheet handling device which picks out sheets one by one from a bundle of sheets held in a container and sends the sheets to a delivery station, the apparatus comprising: a sheet engaging device adapted to pull a portion of the sheet from the stack and disengage it from the remaining sheets and position the portion for further transport; first and second shafts; and a first and second roll device mounted on a second shaft, an electric motor that drives the roll device, and a switch that operates in conjunction with one end of the first shaft to release power to the electric motor. a transfer device comprising: the roll device captures the terminal sheet disposed between the roll devices by the sheet engaging device to remove the sheet from the container; The switch device is mounted for spatial relative movement with respect to the axis, such that when the one end moves away from the second axis by more than a predetermined amount, the movement actuates the switch device. A sheet handling device is provided that includes a transfer device.

[0007] This and other objects will become apparent from the description below. The present invention includes novel features with respect to construction and combination of parts, and preferred embodiments thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The cash dispensing unit 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes two similar ejection mechanisms 12, one above the other and associated with two bill cassettes 14. The bill cassette 14 is removably mounted within the support frame 16 of the cash dispensing unit 10. Each banknote cassette 14 is adapted to accommodate a bundle of banknotes 18, and its long sides are supported on a horizontal support plate 20 mounted within the cassette 14. The two cassettes 14 each store banknotes 18 of different denominations.

Referring to FIG. 2, the bundles of banknotes 18 in each cassette 14 are moved by a spring-loaded pusher member 22 (FIG. 1) to a stop mounted at the front of the cassette 14 (toward the left in FIGS. 1 and 2). It is biased toward member 24 (FIG. 2). The forward end of each cassette 14 is formed with an aperture 26 (FIG. 2) that is normally closed by a conventional shutter device (not shown) when the cassette 14 is not installed within the cash dispensing unit 10. Closed. When a cassette 14 is installed in the correct operating position within the cash dispensing unit 10, its associated shutter device is automatically retracted from the closed position and the corresponding ejector mechanism 12 is moved to the opening 2.
Banknotes 18 can now be withdrawn from 6. The front end of the support plate 20 of each cassette 14 is provided with a brush 28, which will be described further below.

Each take-out mechanism 12 has a side wall 32 of the frame 16.
and a side wall 34 and includes a tubular member 30 extending between and rotatably mounted relative to the walls. Conventional pick arms 36 each include a rubber suction pad 38 and are secured onto each tubular member 30, with each pick arm 36 communicating within the corresponding tubular member 30. The corresponding ends of the tubular members 30 project beyond the sidewalls 34 and are connected to respective rubber tubes 42 at respective rotating elbow connections 40. During operation, a vacuum is applied to each tubular member 30 via this rubber tube 42 .

A gear portion 44 is fixed to a portion of each tubular member 30 extending beyond the side wall 34.
Cooperatively engages the toothed end portion 46 of the first arm of the bell crank lever 48. bell crank lever 4
8 is rotatably mounted on a stud 50 fixed to the outer surface of the side wall 34. Each bellcrank lever 48 is forced to rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2 by a spring 52, the ends of which are respectively attached to the side wall 34 and the end of the second arm of the bellcrank lever 48. A stud 54 is fixed to one side of each bell crank lever 48;
This stud 54 engages a cam track 56 formed in a corresponding cam member 58. Each cam member 58 is fixed to a respective gear 60. The gears 60 are rotatably mounted on respective shafts 62 projecting from the outer surface of the sidewalls 34. Gear 60 is driven by a gear mechanism 64 operated by a main motor 66 (FIG. 6). In operation, gear 60 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 2 when electric motor 66 is activated. Since the stud 54 engages the cam track 56 and the spring 52 keeps the stud 54 engaged with the inner edge of the cam track 56, this rotation of the gear 60 causes the movement of the bell crank lever 48 to be a reciprocating rotational motion. Become. Because the gear portion 44 engages the toothed portion 46 of the bell crank lever 48,
The reciprocating rotational movement of the bell crank lever 48 is caused by the tubular member 30
and an associated reciprocating rotational movement of the pick arm 36. As will be discussed below, the reciprocating movement of both the tubular member 30 and the associated pick arm 36 is effective in picking individual bills 18 from a stack of bills 18 held within the bill cassette 14.

A timing disk 68 is fixed to the far side surface of each gear 60 when viewed from the cam member 58. Each timing disk 68 is largely transparent and includes an arcuate opaque strip 70 extending exactly half of the circumference of the timing disk 68. Each timing disk 68 is associated with an optical sensing device including an LED (not shown) and a cooperative phototransistor sensor 73 positioned to sense the opaque strip 70. In operation, as the gear 60, its associated cam member 58, and timing disc 68 assembly rotate in response to operation of the electric motor 66, in response to sensing the leading and trailing edges of the opaque strip 70. An associated phototransistor sensor 73 generates an output signal. It will be appreciated that the signals generated by sensor 73 indicate the exact position of its associated pick arm 36 at the time these signals are generated.

Referring now to FIG. 3, each takeout mechanism 12 also includes a first set of rolls 7 fixed to a drive shaft 76.
4, and a second set of rolls 78 (hereinafter referred to as cam rolls) that are in cooperative relationship with the rolls 74 and are fixed to the drive shaft 80. The periphery of roll 78 includes a low portion 82 and a high portion 84. Drive shaft 76 and drive shaft 80 extend between and are rotatably mounted between side walls 32 and 34 and are driven by two wheels 85 forming part of gear mechanism 64 . As a result, operationally,
Roll 74 and roll 78 rotate clockwise and counterclockwise in FIG. 2, respectively. In this case, roll 74 and roll 78 each rotate twice for each rotation of timing disk 68. During a normal ejection operation, the lower long side of the first banknote 18' of a bundle of banknotes 18 is partially pulled out of the cassette 14 under the action of the suction force applied by the respective pick arm 36, as shown in FIG. As arm 36 rotates clockwise from position 36' shown in two phantom lines to the position shown in solid lines, it is fed between lower portion 82 of each roll 78 and its associated roll 74. Banknote 18'
is then sandwiched between the roll 74 and the high portion 84 of the roll 78, so that it is completely pulled out of the cassette 14.

Cash dispensing unit 10 includes two bill transfer mechanisms 86 each associated with two ejection mechanisms 12 . Each bill transfer mechanism 86 includes a guide device 87, a set of feed rolls 88 for sending the bill pulled out by the takeout mechanism 12 along a feed path 98 toward another transfer mechanism 100 located above the bill transfer mechanism 86; 90, 92, 94,
and 96. Transfer mechanism 100 serves to feed bills one by one onto conventional loading wheels 102 . The rolls 78 and cooperating set of rolls 74 of each retrieval mechanism 12 feed removed banknotes to the cooperatively operating set of feed rolls 88 and feed rolls 90. From the feed rolls 88, 90 the banknotes are transferred to the cooperative feed rolls 90, 9.
2 and a set of cooperative feed rolls 94 , 96 , and are fed upwardly out of their respective bill transfer mechanisms 86 . The upper bill transport mechanism 86 further includes two further cooperating rolls 104 . The roll 104 is connected to the lower banknote transfer mechanism 86
The banknotes are transferred to the upper banknote transfer mechanism 8.
6 cooperative feed rolls 90, 92, and the banknotes are fed from the upper banknote transfer mechanism 86 to the transfer mechanism 100.

Referring now specifically to FIG. 1, it is shown that the loading wheel 102 is driven by an electric motor 66 and is arranged for continuous rotation in a counterclockwise direction. Upper bill transfer mechanism 86 and loading wheel 102
In between is provided a device (not shown) for detecting the overlapping supply of banknotes and for detecting any invalid or damaged banknotes. The stowage wheel 102 includes a plurality of parallel and spaced apart stowage plates 110 along the stowage wheel axis 112. Each loading plate 110 includes a series of curved vanes 114. Loading board 1
Ten vanes 114 pass between portions 116 of a swingably mounted stripper plate assembly 118. Operationally,
Each banknote fed to the stowage wheel 102 by the transfer mechanism 100 enters between adjacent vanes 114 and is conveyed partially around the axis of the stowage wheel 102. This banknote is loaded onto the loading wheel 102 by portion 116.
The long side of the banknote is removed from the stripper plate assembly 1.
18 and loaded onto the belt device 120. Belt system 120 cooperates with belt system 122, which is normally held in the position shown in FIG. When a wad 18'' (or a single bill) to be paid to a customer in response to a cash withdrawal request is loaded onto the belt device 120,
The belt device 122 is swung clockwise about the axis 124 such that the wad 18'' is captured between the belt device 120 and the belt device 122. In the course of this rotational movement, the belt device 122 is A separate belt with
It should be understood that the loading plates 110 pass between adjacent pairs of loading plates 110.

Assuming that no bills in wad 18'' are rejected for any reason, belt devices 120, 122 are activated to drive wad 18'' to a pair of drive belt devices 126, 128. The drive belt devices 126, 128 serve to drive the wad 18'' through an exit slot 130 in the teller housing 132 to a position where the wad 18'' can be retrieved by a teller user. Shutter 134, which serves to close exit slot 130 when the teller machine is inactive, has already been retracted to an open position. Belt devices 120, 122 are mounted in resilient relation to one another, and drive belt devices 126, 128 are also mounted in resilient relation to each other so that bundles of banknotes of varying thickness are mounted on the belt. It is held and movable between the devices 120 and between the drive belt devices 126, 128. If overlapping bills are detected during the loading of a stack of bills onto the belt device 120, or if one or more bills in the stack 18'' are rejected for other reasons, the stripper plate assembly 118 The belt devices 120 and 122 are rotated to the position shown by the chain line in FIG.
8" in the opposite direction to the normal feeding direction to create a bundle of 18"
are thrown into the rejected banknote container 136 through the opening at the top.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 3 and 4(a) and 4(b). The drive shaft 80 of each take-out mechanism 12 is connected to the side wall 3
2, 34, while drive shaft 76 is mounted in a movable bearing 142 adjacent side wall 32 and a fixed bearing 140 secured to side wall 34. fixed bearing 14
0 and the meshing gear 85 move clockwise around the center of the fixed bearing 140 (relative to FIG. 3) to the drive shaft 7.
Allow some rotational movement of 6. A movable bearing 142 extends through a generally rectangular opening 146 formed in sidewall 32 and is slidably engaged with portion 14 thereof.
Contains 4. This portion 144 is provided with a flange 148 that slidably contacts the outer surface of wall 32. One end of the drive shaft 76 adjacent to the side wall 32 is connected to the movable bearing 1
42 and operates in conjunction with a microswitch 150 mounted on the outer surface of the side wall 32. A stud 152 formed on portion 144 then engages an actuation lever 154 of microswitch 150. Typically, portion 144 of movable bearing 142 is urged downwardly into contact with the lower edge of aperture 146 by a compression spring 156 disposed between the top of portion 144 and the upper edge of aperture 146 . Drive shaft 76, section 14
4. The normal position of the microswitch 150 is as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4(a), and the microswitch 150 is in an open state in its normal position. As will be detailed later, when a swallowing phenomenon occurs, the movable bearing 14
2 is moved upwardly away from the shaft 80 and displaced upwardly against the action of the spring 156 to the position shown in FIG. 4(b). Portion 144 slides upwardly along opening 146 in sidewall 32 and drive shaft 76 rotates about the center of fixed bearing 140. When this upward movement of the movable bearing 142 is performed, the actuating lever 154 of the microswitch 150 is rotated by the stud 152 counterclockwise (with reference to FIGS. 4(a), B), thereby closing the microswitch 150. .

The operation of the cash dispensing unit 10 is shown in FIG. 5(a).
, 5B, and FIG. 6. This operation is controlled by electronic control unit 158 (FIG. 6) of cash dispensing unit 10. This electronic control device 158 is connected to the electric motor 66 , each phototransistor 73 , and the suction control device 160 of each extraction mechanism 12 . Further, the microswitch 150 of each take-out mechanism 12 is controlled by the electronic control device 15.
8 and a positive voltage supply source in series with a resistor 162. In response to a cash withdrawal request made by a teller user, a main teller processor (not shown) sends a request to electronic controller 158 for one or more bills to be paid at cash dispensing unit 10. When you send it,
Controller 158 sends a signal to electric motor 66 to
is turned on to start rotation of the assembly consisting of gear 60, cam member 58, and timing disc 68. Immediately thereafter, controller 158 begins sending a signal to suction controller 160 of one of the selected ejection mechanisms 12 . This is the tubular member 3 of the selected ejection mechanism 12.
0 to a vacuum source (not shown) in a controlled manner to initiate banknote removal from the associated banknote cassette 14. The timing of applying reduced pressure to the tubular member 30, and thus the suction pad 38, is controlled by a signal generated from the phototransistor sensor 73 of the selected extraction mechanism 12.

In response to the rotational movement of the gear 60 of the selected pick mechanism 12 as described above, the pick arm 36 of the selected pick mechanism 12 undergoes an oscillating motion. While the removal of banknotes from the banknote cassette 14 occurs (Fig.
For each rotational movement of the pick arm 36 in a clockwise direction (relative to 0), the pick arm 36 moves the first note 18' of the bundle of notes held in the note cassette 14.
, a suction force is applied in a well-known manner, and as a result, the banknote 1
The lower end of the banknote 18' is withdrawn from the banknote cassette 14 until the lower end of the banknote 8' contacts the set of rolls 74.

As the lower end of the banknote 18' approaches the roll 74, the lower portion 82 of the cam roll 78
8 faces the roll 74 so as not to interfere with the movement of the banknote 18'. The high part 84 of the roll 78 is the roll 74
Just when a cooperative relationship is about to be reached, the suction pad 38 disengages the bill 18'. And this banknote 18
' is then captured between the roll 74 and the raised portion 84 of the cam roll 78, as shown in FIG. 5(a). roll 7
4 and 78, the leading edge of the banknote is the roll 8 of the transfer mechanism 86.
The banknote 18' is pulled out from the banknote cassette 14 until it enters the nip at 8 and 90. After that, the banknote 18' is stored in the banknote cassette 1.
4 and fed to the loading wheel 102 as described above.

Once the bill 18' has been fed to the loading wheel 102, the controller 158 can proceed with another series of removal operations. In this case, banknotes can be taken out from any of the banknote cassettes 14. The control device 1 indicates that a banknote of the correct denomination has been withdrawn from the banknote cassette 14.
Once confirmed by 58, controller 158 deactivates motor 66 to return cash dispensing unit 10 to its quiescent state.

Due to the certain porosity of the first banknote 18', when the first banknote 18' is removed from its cassette, the second banknote of the bundle of banknotes 18, together with the first banknote 18', is There is a possibility that it will be separated from the banknote and move forward. During normal operation, the brush 28 prevents the second banknote from being withdrawn from the cassette 14 along with the first banknote 18'. The reason is that when the first and second banknotes are withdrawn from the cassette, the brush 28 curves the lower edges of these banknotes, thereby preventing suction from being applied to the second banknote, thus preventing the second banknote from being applied. This is because the banknotes are allowed to fall and return to their normal positions in the banknote cassette 14.

For example, if a swallowing phenomenon occurs due to incorrect loading of the cassette 14 or jamming of the push-out member 22, the banknote chunk 18''' is pulled out from the banknote cassette 14, as shown in FIG. 5(b). It may become trapped between the leading edge of the raised portion 84 of the roll 74 and 78 as shown in FIG. After the banknote mass 18''' is captured between the raised portion 84 and the roll 74, rotation of the roll 78 continues so that as the roll 74 is pushed upwardly from the roll 78, the movable bearing 142 moves into the opening in the side wall 32. 14
6 in a direction away from the axis 80. This upward movement of movable bearing 142 continues until the end of drive shaft 76 adjacent sidewall 32 is spaced from drive shaft 80 by more than a predetermined amount. When this scheduled amount is reached, the micro switch 15
0 is closed and a high level signal is applied to the controller 158 via the closed microswitch 150. In response to receiving this high level signal, the control device 158 immediately controls the extraction mechanism 12, the transfer mechanism 86, and the transfer mechanism 100.
The power of the electric motor 66 is released in order to stop the operation of the gear mechanism 64 that drives the. At the same time, the controller 158
4 to the main ATM processor (not shown). This signal indicates that a swallowing phenomenon has occurred within the cash dispensing unit 10. Note that when a swallow event occurs, the motor 66 is de-energized before the gear mechanism 64 and associated parts are subjected to significant stress. Once the operator clears the banknote jam, the automatic teller machine to which the cash dispensing unit 10 is associated can immediately operate again without the need for further servicing. In this way, the above-described mechanism including the movable bearing 142 and the associated microswitch 150 simply and effectively protects the cash dispensing unit 10 from damage when a swallowing event occurs.

In the above-described embodiment, the microswitch 150 is activated when a lump of banknotes whose total thickness exceeds 2 mm (approximately 20 banknotes) is swallowed.
closes. If one of the ejection mechanisms 12 pulls out multiple banknotes that are less than 2 millimeters in total, the gear mechanism 64 will not become jammed and will not be damaged in any way. Such multiple banknotes are detected by the multiple banknote detection device described above and separated into the rejected banknote container 136.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a cash dispensing unit of an automatic teller machine including a banknote handling device according to the present invention, with some parts of the device removed.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side sectional view of a portion of the cash dispensing unit of FIG. 1, with the bill handling device partially exploded to show details thereof;

3 is an elevational view of a portion of the device ejection mechanism of FIG. 2, taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2; FIG.

4 is a side view of a portion of the FIG. 3 ejection mechanism as viewed in the direction of arrow B shown in FIG. 3, showing different operating positions of parts of the mechanism; FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a normal take-out operation and a take-out operation when a swallowing phenomenon occurs.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the electrical connections between the parts of the cash dispensing unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Cash payment unit 12 Sheet ejection mechanism 14 Cassette 16 Cassette support frame 18’ banknote 74 First roll 76 First roll axis 78 Second roll 80 Second roll shaft 74, 78, 86 Banknote transfer device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sheet handling device that takes out sheets one by one from a bundle of sheets held in a container and sends the sheets to a delivery station, the apparatus comprising: pulling out a portion of the terminal sheets of the bundle from the bundle; a sheet engaging device configured to disengage the remaining sheet and position the portion for further transport; first and second shafts; and a sheet engaging device mounted on the first and second shafts. A transfer device including first and second roll devices, an electric motor that drives the roll devices, and a switch that interlocks with one end of the first shaft and releases power to the electric motor, the roll device comprising: the end sheet disposed between the roll devices is captured by the sheet engaging device to remove the sheet from the container; the first shaft is moved at one end spatially relative to the second shaft; a transfer device mounted such that when the one end is moved away from the second axis by more than a predetermined amount, the movement actuates the switch device.